NICOLE IS D
by TLMonkey
Summary: I was supposed to lead a team to repair a communications blackout aboard the Ishimura... Not exactly what I would have expected a "communications blackout" to be...  Told from Hammond's Point of View
1. NICOLE IS D

**(A/N:Well, it's very short, and I'm not very convinced myself. I thought I should give the story a Prologue, since it launches the whole Flashback perspective this story has. Maybe I should even change the title to N.I.C.O.L.E. I.S. D., since I think it's good. Last, but not least, I shall remind you readers that if you don't review, I won't be able to improve the story)**

Prologue : N.I.C.O.L.E. I.S. D.

Boom! I heard a big explosion, and felt the whole ship shake. Did it mean Isaac had managed to get the singularity core? Right then, what I hear was the ship's AI.

"Engine power failure"

I ran for it. I exited my hiding spot, and ran to the Engine Room. The alarms were ringing and the ship was shaking, all in one, and it was somewhat difficult to stay on foot. I was running when I heard a loud roar – no doubt coming from one of those Brutes – and I thought it was somewhere behind me. I reached the door and as I opened it, I heard the roar again. I entered the room backwards, still looking for the necromorph, wherever it was, when I heard steps behind me. I turned around to see Isaac. Although I didn't show it, since the situation was very tense, I was very relieved to see him.

- Isaac! Over here! I've been trying to reach you but my comm was out! You got the singularity core... That's our ticket out of here. Get that core to the shuttle! Don't wait for me. - I saw Isaac pointing at something behind me, so I looked over my shoulder to see what he wanted, and it wasn't pretty.

The only thing I didn't want to happen, was happening right at my back. The Brute I heard before must had been following me, and it finally found me. I felt worse at that moment that I had ever felt... I was in front of a Brute, with no possible escape and it was about to charge me.

- Oh, fuck me. Aaarrgh! - I cried to encourage myself, while shooting blindly at it, even if I had been the one to tell Isaac to shoot them in the back...

As it finally launched itself at me, I understood that thing people said about your life passing before your eyes... The first punch sent me flying a short distance to the glass separating Isaac from me, which left me very dizzy. Right then, in that state where you're very near to pass out but you're not going to, as the Brute stood over me, I started remembering my whole life, from my childhood to how I became a Chief Security Officer, and over all, how I got to this situation, how the mission started...


	2. New Arrivals

**(A/N: Yes, I know it's ALMOST the same as in the game, but c'mon, the story's going to get juicy in a few chapters, where you really lose contact with Hammond... And yes, I'm keeping this as close to the script as I can.)**

Chapter 1 : New Arrivals

A few minutes after we crashed in the Ishimura, I sent Isaac to check a security console, while Kendra was trying to hack an elevator. If I had only known what would happen right there and then... As a quick recap, we – that is Kendra, Johnston, Chen, Isaac and I – were sent on a mission to repair a communications blackout in the USG Ishimura, but as we tried to land, we discovered (a little too late, if you ask me) that their guidance tether was damaged and, as I stated at the beginning of this, we crashed. What we found inside of the planet-cracker, however, didn't exactly look like a communications blackout, it was a massacre! … Anyway, when Isaac, our engineer, by the way, checked the console...

- Huh. That doesn't look good. – Johnston said – She's taken a lot of damage.

- The Tram's System is offline. Getting around is going to be difficult – I said –. The air seems to be flowing again. That's a start.

When I said that, as a sort of a trigger phrase, the quarantine suddenly activated and the lights died out, causing us to ready our weapons at once.

- What the hell was that? – I heard Kendra shout.

- I'm not sure...

Right then, something – I'd later know what that exactly was – fell from one of the vents in the ceiling.

- What the hell? – I heard Johnston ask

- I don't know! Something's in the room with us! – Kendra answered

Suddenly, with a disgusting sound, we saw Johnston fall over... with his head falling over **opposite** of him... We heard his RIG' characteristic flat-line sound right after.

- Jesus! Open fire! Open fire! - I shouted as Chen and I started firing at the... **thing** with our rifles. - Kendra! Power!

Another of those things suddenly jumped on Chen, and started slashing him with the... were that blades?... coming out of his hands. I tried to make it fall back, to no avail.

- Kendra...!

- Come on... come on. Got it! - I heard her say.

As we heard Chen's RIG flat-line sound, we knew we couldn't do anything to save him, and we ran to the elevator. Right after the doors closed, we heard the sound of crystal crashing, and I suddenly remembered Isaac... **(A/N: OK, the necromorph following Isaac there doesn't really break the window but pop out of a vent a moment later)**

**- **Isaac, get the hell out of there! - I shouted at him.

Kendra managed to unlock the door, and told him to run, too. I remember praying for his well-being.

- Do you think he made it? - I asked Kendra when the elevator's doors opened.

- I don't know... - she answered – His chances were very slim, with one of them after him and no weapons...

We took a few cautious steps out of the elevator, and I couldn't believe what we saw... the walls were completely coated with blood, so much blood not even a surgeon could have stood it without nausea... But, of course, that wasn't all... there were also the corpses... and after a few more steps another body fell right in front of us. But the worst of it, was the ID on the RIG... Johnston. **(A/N: There actually isn't another room here, just a corridor and an elevator to the Tram Station...)**

- Oh my god! - Kendra shouted. - What did they do to him?

- I... - I could find no words. - We have to keep moving, those th... Watch out!

Right after I said those words, the vent at the end of the corridor popped open, and another of those monstrosities came from inside of it. I opened fire, and it ate the bullets, not even worrying to dodge them, not falling, not seemingly receiving any damage at all. Finally, after I, due to the recoil, blew its arms away – which I would later learn was their weak spot – the thing died... or more accurately, stopped trying to kill us.

But that one wasn't alone. The vent above us also popped open, and our dead friend's buddy fell and tried to slash Kendra, narrowly failing, as she threw herself to the ground. This time, seeing as it was trying to get to Kendra, I shot its legs, not only slowing it down but severing them. That didn't kill it, though, so we took our advantage and flew, locking the door after us. We seemed to be in the Tram Station. Then, we saw the door in the control room open before us... and it was Isaac!

- Isaac? Isaac! God, I can't believe he made it. - Kendra said, waving her arms at him.

- Isaac, we ran into more of them on the way over here. Are you okay? - I asked.

- More what? - interrupted Kendra before Isaac could answer me – What the hell are those things? Is that the crew?

- Keep your voice down! - I urged her - Whatever they are, they're not friendly! And half the doors on the ship are locked because of the quarantine. Now we have to get to the bridge, but first we got to repair the tram system.

- You're crazy Hammond – snapped at me Kendra -. You're going to get us all killed.

- If you listen to me, I WILL get you out of here alive. Now, what's wrong with the tram?

- The data board's fried but there should be a spare in the Maintenance Bay. There's also a broken tram blocking the tunnel that needs to be repaired -informed Kendra -. Dammit, everything is on the other side of this quarantine. We can't reach it from here.

- No we can't... but you can – I told Isaac -. Isaac, if I can get to the bridge, I should be able to access the personnel files. You fix the tram and I'll help you find Nicole. - Now I remember not fulfilling my promise, as when I had the chance I didn't take it... That's another thing I regret for accepting this mission.

So, the only things we could do were to monitor Isaac's progress in the repairs and stay vigilant in case anything came out of a vent. When I saw Isaac had just encountered one of those monsters, I told him to dismember them.

Some time later, Isaac came back, replaced the data board and called the repaired tram.

- Alright, we're onboard and heading to the bridge. Good work – I praised him.

- Strange... the quarantine just lifted... - Kendra mused.

- Whatever was in the flight lounge must have left. That's lucky for us. Isaac, get back to the Kellion and prep it for launch. We'll find out what we can from the bridge and meet you there.

- If we live that long. You're out of your league, Hammond. This is suicide! We're going to die out here – Kendra snapped at me. That pissed me off.

- Your lack of confidence in me is duly noted, Ms Daniels, but I have a mission to complete and that's exactly what I'm going to do. With or without you. - I told her -. Do we understand each other?

- Just get us out of here alive.

After that, she didn't talk to me for the rest of the way to the bridge. When we finally arrived, we saw the whole bridge was covered in blood, and other parts of the ship seemed to be as well. I commed Isaac.

- Isaac, we made it to the Bridge. It's a nightmare up here. No survivors. We're going to try and get to the Command computer. Wish us luck. – I hanged before he could answer.

A few moments later, we heard an explosion, and the AI voice started sounding throughout the ship

"Alert. Collision detected in the main hanger bay. Emergency crews have been notified."

- What the hell is happening down there? What happened to the shuttle? - I cried on the comm, fearing the worst.

- That was our ride home... It's the only way off this ship... - Kendra looked in shock, as we realized it was the shuttle what had exploded.

- Kendra... - I tried to reassure her.

- No Hammond! This changes everything! - she shouted.

- Just let me think! Can you access the Command Computer? - I asked her.

- It's no good. There was an executive lockdown on all primary systems. Without the Captain's authorization, I can't access them.

- Well? Where's the Captain? - I asked her, growing more impatient by the minute.

- Here he is. Captain Benjamin Matthius. Location... Medlab. Status... - she looked depressed at this – Deceased.

- What? How? - I asked

- I can't access that information. Find the Captain and you'll find his RIG. With his authorization codes, I can crack this computer open.

- Dammit! Isaac, I'm sending the Tram back to your location. Get to the medical lab and find that RIG as fast as you can. - I suddenly heard some noise. Kendra seemed to have heard that too.

- What was that? - she wondered.

And then, I saw it. Not really like the ones with the blades protruding from their palms – by now I have dubbed them "Slashers", but this one was more muscular, and instead of legs, had a long tail.

- Holy Shit! Come on, get out of here! - I commanded.

We ran away from the room as fast as we could, and locked the door. We kept running, but what we found wasn't exactly shelter... instead, we ran right into an ambush.

- Kendra! Go! Go! Go! Let's get out of here! - I shouted.

- How, Hammond, HOW? - She panicked.

- Don't know, run!

I can't exactly remember what we did, or how we did it, but by the time we lost the creatures, Kendra was gone.


	3. Intensive Care

Chapter 2 : Intensive Care

Well, there I was, on the Bridge of the Ishimura, right after escaping a necromorph ambush... right after losing Kendra... But I knew that if I wanted to stay alive and complete the mission I couldn't panic... How foolish I was... But then, I went out of my hiding spot, an elevator I was able to lock myself into, to find the necromorphs were gone. By the way, this "necromorphs" were the monstrosities we were fighting, and their name was given from some doctor, Kyne I think his name was, in a video log, so I adopted it, for lack of a better term to describe the monsters.

As I arrived back at the Captain's Nest, I managed to see Isaac had arrived at the Science/Medical Deck...

- Isaac? Are you there? - I saw he had a different helmet, and wondered if he had upgraded his RIG, since it was bulkier – We were attacked! Kendra's gone! One minute she was there, then... I can't believe I lost her. We can still do this. Get me the Captain's RIG codes and we'll find Nicole. – I tried to motivate him, since morale IS a very important thing – Looks like the crew barricaded the door to the emergency wing. You'll have to blow through it to get to the morgue. Get some thermite from Medical Storage, and a shock pad from Zero-G therapy.

I tried to tell him to be careful, but the video slowly turned into static, and the only thing I managed to do was to complain about it, right before it cut out. Also, I felt somewhat guilty for making him go to the morgue, because if Kendra was right in her assumption of the monsters being the crew, I thought they'd be able to transform the corpses, and the morgue was surely full of them, since the Captain was an Unitologist and in a report there was something about picking up the corpses of all the murders and suicides were committed in the few weeks before the Ishimura arrived in Aegis VII... some sort of craziness that expanded after they found something down there... But I was getting distracted, so I looked at his status, and saw him entering the Research wing, and after a few steps, the quarantine activating... I had to admit it... he was very good, and he only had a Plasma Cutter, which ironically proved to be more useful than my own Pulse Rifle when you had to cut limbs...

As he entered what looked like a... baby lab... I got readings of a scientific there, another survivor. But when I looked at Isaac's monitor again, I saw the survivor losing his title, as what looked like a baby necromorph - God, that was gruesome, a baby, not even born! - ripped his head off after launching some kind of spike at his hand, from a tentacle... I prayed for Isaac's well-being again.

After some of those things attacked him to no avail, as Isaac cut off their tentacles, he finally managed to get the thermite. As I was about to comm him, I heard a few stomps of something very heavy on the ceiling... right on the Bridge.

- Alright, that thermite you picked up should be able to melt through the barricade, use the shock pad to ignite it. Hope I can hold this position, I can hear something big moving out there.

Now I was genuinely worried, and I tried to venture out of the Nest, to find out what happened to Kendra, and to explore a little as well as to look for some ammo, since I was running out of it – not as if I came here with much... it was supposed to be a communications blackout, for God's sake!

When I finished downloading Isaac's camera in my RIG to have live updates on his status and went out of the Nest, I found the Bridge completely deserted, save for a few corpses, all bloodied, with their ribs coming out of their torso... I felt nausea, and looked away. I spotted a shop, and I bought a few rounds for the Rifle, since now that it wasn't a blackout I was surely going to need them. At that moment it didn't occur me how strange it was that Pulse rounds and even rifles were sold at a mining vessel, without any kind of restrictions. But I'm getting carried away again...

After I bought the rounds, I tried to use the elevators, but to no avail. I hid myself into one of them and looked at the Engineer's status, and saw he was entering Zero-G therapy, and as I thought he had never done that before, I showed him the ropes**.**

- As you know, the Ishimura is able to set it's gravity locally. Your grav-boots will kick in when you enter a zero-g area. - I told him, and waited to see him jump his way through the room until he arrived at the other side, pick a power unit and place it into its slot, unlocking the door – which hadn't enough power due the lacking of the aforementioned power unit.

Inside the room, there was the shock pad, as I expected.

- Great, you got a shock pad, combine it with the thermite at the barricade to destroy it. Shit, I can hear more coming; moving through the vents. Stay safe, Isaac! - I hanged, hearing right after a metallic sound, exiting the elevator to see what it was.

And through and out of the vents they were! As I exited the elevator to keep looking for Kendra, a few of them popped out of a vent, right in front of me, and charged me. Thankfully, there weren't any of any of those babies – they gave me chills up my spine – but just the "common" ones, the ones with the blades out of their palms, the slashers, as I know them now. They were three, I think, and as I said, charged me, so I fired at them, trying to aim at their arms, but finding it easier to aim at their legs. After one of them lost its legs, I aimed at another one, this time ripping its head of, causing it to slash randomly in the air, cutting the arm of the last one. As I tried to finish it off, by dismembering its other arm, I felt a sharp pain in my right leg, and saw blood, MY blood, flowing... The one which(who?) was crawling after I cut its leg off had reached and slashed me as I was shooting its "teammates". I stomped its arm, finally killing it and quickly shot the other two, pushing them back a little, giving me time to withdraw a little, so they couldn't reach me and finally managed to cut their arms off.

I heard a muffled version of what could only be an explosion while I was looking for a mirror to assess the damage I suffered on my RIG, and took a quick glance at Isaac's status. He had managed to blow the barricade up.

- Okay, you're through. Should be clear from there to the morgue – I didn't exactly believe that, but he didn't have to know that... after all, morale is morale. - Remember, the codes are on the captain's body.

After seeing I lost one of my five health bars, I used a small medpack I found in one container to heal my leg, and I finally found out the problem with the elevators. They were locked from within the Security Room, no doubt trying to stop the infection from arriving at the cockpit to maintain some sort of control of the ship, and thus avoiding to lose the orbit. Obviously, it had failed, since they didn't bother with using the elevators... But I couldn't reach the Security Room, since the door had no power and Kendra wasn't there - I didn't know if she was even alive, back then.

So, when I finally realized there was nothing I could do to find Kendra without Isaac – he was the only one of us who knew how to reroute power or hack a door -, I went back to the Captain's Nest, and looked how he was doing. He had just finished watching a video log of a Medical Officer, and then I recognized her, it was Nicole!

- That was Nicole, right? I can't tell from here when that log was made. I'm sure she's around here somewhere. - I cheered him up, since he seemed a bit crestfallen.

I kept reading reports of the situation on the colony and the few non-classified ones about what happened up here. One of the security camera tapes I found showed exactly how Benjamin Matthius had died... Poor man, even if he was a zealot, no one deserved to die like that... Stabbed in the eye with a syringe.

And then, Isaac made it to the morgue, and both of us – he did it live, I did it through his camera – finally saw what those things were made of – corpses. The problem was, the bat-like thing stabbed the corpses in the head, and turned them into some kind of "evolved" slasher (you know, the ones with the blades), and Isaac was in a **morgue**, full of corpses, and all of them had all of their limbs **and **their heads... To top it off, poor Benjamin was the first infected one, and shattering the glass that kept him isolated from the rest of the dead, he – it – charged Isaac, but the bat launched itself at another corpse. Thankfully, Isaac used stasis on the captain, and emptied a full clip on the bat-like necromorph – by now dubbed "Infectors", not any other name suited them better – killing it before he had to face an army. The former captain was faster than any other slasher we had faced until then, and was able to grab Isaac with its blades and try to bite his neck. Our engineer tried to push it back as best as he could, managing to escape its embrace, and punching its head with the cutter. After that, he fired at its legs, and then at its arms, until he killed it for good. Right after that, he sent me Matthius' codes.

- Codes received, and they look good; thank God. I'll start accessing the captain's records right now – I assured him - Head to the tram station, and I'll contact you there. I'm going to find out what the hell happened to this ship.

I started typing on the console, and with horror found out the least thing I'd have wanted: we were losing orbit. But before I could contact Isaac, I heard a screeching noise just outside of the Nest, and I opened the door to find a slasher in front of a damaged escape pod. Before it launched itself at me, I shot it repeatedly with the Pulse Rifle, throwing it inside of it. After a few more bursts, it seemed downed, and I locked the escape pod, thinking it wouldn't be anymore trouble, big mistake...

- Isaac! Somehow one of them found a way down to the Captain's Nest! I managed to contain it in a damaged escape pod. - I commed him as soon as I entered the command center again – Lifting the executive lockdown... I found the deck logs... Whatever is happening around here, it came from the planet when they cracked it open. It spread to the colony, and reached the ship. - I realized what the truth was with horror – Isaac, this isn't an infection. It's some sort of alien life! Shit! - I suddenly remembered the actual reason to comm Isaac – We've got bigger problems. The ship's engines are offline and our orbit is decaying! Get over to the Engineering Deck ASAP, while I stay here and figure out what the problem is.

Who'd figured this communications blackout repair mission was going to be full-reparations throughout the ship while fighting reanimated corpses? Not me, that's for sure.


	4. Course Correction

Chapter 3 : Course Correction

So, there we were, without any trace of Kendra – we believed she was dead – and losing the ship's orbit. I was stuck in the Captain's Nest, with a seemingly dead necromorph inside of an escape pod and Isaac was on the tram en route to the Engineering Deck, trying to restart the engines. I was still looking for the exact problem, and found it a bit after the tram stopped and Isaac stepped out of it...

- Isaac, we've got two problems, and we're working on borrowed time here! First, there's no fuel in the engines. Second, the gravity centrifuge is offline... which means there's a couple of trillion tons of rock pulling us down. - I enumerated - I need you to get that centrifuge operational, refuel the main engine and fire it up so I can stabilize the ship's orbit.

He nodded and I disconnected. It wasn't as if I were going out of the nest to look for Kendra again, I sort of learned my lesson, the only person who could move somewhat freely on the bridge right then was someone with engineering or at least computer knowledge, and I have none. I'm just a Security Chief Officer.

But I was going to learn as much as I could about how this nightmare started. There on the records, it looked like the whole thing started as one shuttle coming from the colony after some artifact was brought aboard the Ishimura and contact was lost crashed into the Flight Deck, seemingly empty, but completely bloodied. My theory was that one of those bats - as I dubbed them at first, now I know them as "Infectors", as it's what they do – must had been on board the shuttle and, after killing the people inside it, fled through the vents of the ship, reemerging only after the other necromorphs increased the quantity of disposable hosts.

**(A/N: OK, He just said he wasn't going to explore outside, because he'd not be able to do anything, but then this chapter would be _even _more boring, with no action outside of the Nest, and just reports to read. Sort of like a _worse_ filler than it already is.)**

Though I said earlier I had learned my lesson, I couldn't help but blame myself for the lost of most of my team, first Johnston and Chen, then Kendra, and, God forbid, maybe Isaac sometime later... So, after what my common sense told me, I caught a glimpse outside the Nest, seeing the "dead" necromorph stay still, as I had left it, and used the elevator to get me to the actual bridge. Right then, I received an alert from my RIG, in which I had downloaded the information from the Command Computer, to have live feed from both Isaac's camera and the ship's status. In the report, the readings from the fuel deposit showed some activity inside of it.

- Whatever you did, it's working, Isaac! - I congratulated him - I have a fuel reading. It's only a quarter full, but that's enough to restore orbit once you bring the engines online... - I interrupted, since I caught a glimpse of something really big, but I discarded it as stress. - What the hell? False alarm. Thought I saw something.

I cut the conversation and started walking, aiming anywhere I could see a vent, in case a necromorph would come out of them. If I couldn't access any other areas, I could always ransack the area of any valuable material such as Semiconductors, ammo for my Pulse Rifle or even Power Nodes, which could be used to unlock doors or upgrade equipment. Even if I was doing that, I refused to loot the corpses, not just because it was disgusting, but also because I had morals, and they were the only thing that kept me going right then, not letting me cancel the mission right there and then... Now that I think about it, it wouldn't have made much sense, as even if I had actually canceled the mission, the Kellion, our only way out, was destroyed, trapping us inside of the ship. I found some Pulse Rounds and a Gold Semiconductor, which I sold at the store for 3,000 Credits. I used those Credits to buy more rounds and a small medpack, which were stored inside of my RIG. Ah... technology.

After I came back yet again to the Nest, I kept searching through the ship reports, and the camera tapes to learn what the situation was for the first moments after the planetcrack. Seemingly, people started getting anxious, then depressed, and finally, murderous and suicidal. It happened in the colony, and it also happened on the ship right after the Ishimura did its work. It was too much of a coincidence, but I couldn't find what caused it. I kept looking for it several minutes, when another alert told me the centrifuge was again online. But, as I looked at the ship's status, I saw the orbit was decaying very fast. I commed Isaac again, to tell him how things were doing.

- You're doing great, Isaac! Centrifuge and gyros are both a hundred percent and stabilized. - I informed him - Now get out of there and focus on the engine. I don't know how much time we have left.

I was reading yet another report – this time about some "Marker" they brought onboard with the planetcrack – when I saw Isaac was receiving a comm through his RIG, and I was really surprised when I saw who the sender was... Kendra!

- Isaac? Can you hear me? - she asked - It's Kendra... They attacked me... I ran for it... and Hammond just... he just disappeared.

- Kendra! Where are you? - I questioned her, not believing what I was seeing.

- Nice to see you're alive and well, Hammond. - Kendra snapped sarcastically at me... I don't know if it was because she blamed me for our actual situation or because she didn't like me at all - I barricaded myself in the computer core. I can hear them moving outside. But I don't think they know I'm in here... - she looked very nervous... - I can log into everything from here. I hacked the root and found some reports from the colony. Even before they cracked the planet, the colonists were experiencing widespread dementia. It seems to be related to some artifact they found on the planet. Something called "the Marker". I'll keep looking. I've got your location, and I'm going to unlock the door to Fuel Storage. You can get to the engine chamber from there.

So it was true, then... The Marker **was** what was causing the dementia on the colony and what caused it onboard the Ishimura, it had to be that... Maybe it was even related to the necromorphs themselves... But I thought something was odd about that Marker... Then I remembered... The Marker was the Unitology's Holy Grial, found and lost about two hundred years ago by someone called Altman, whose mysterious death granted him the title of "martyr" and EarthGov was tagged as the ones who killed him... But if that Marker was seemingly lost... how did it end in Aegis VII? I still don't know.

I tried to contact Kendra and tell her if she could unlock the Security Room for me, so I could unlock the elevators and access the Work Bench to see if I could upgrade something with the few Power Nodes I had (not like I had any experience or anything, but as I told myself, how hard could it be?), but to no avail. Maybe her RIG was damaged and only could make calls and not receive them, maybe she was in an area which couldn't receive calls, due to magnetism... It didn't occur me she could have done it on purpose. So, resigned, I chose to wait for the final alert which would let me ignite the engines and regain orbit. I saw Isaac fight a horde of necromorphs while waiting for the engines to be ready to ignite. Now he was using a flamethrower to keep them at bay. When the last of the necromorphs fell, our engineer pressed another button and the engines ignited, I just had to press the Confirm button from the Command Computer and we could finally regain orbit. A few seconds after igniting, the engines made the Ishimura regain altitude and I commed Isaac to tell him of our success.

- It's working! We're online and functional! - I cried on the comm. - Finally some good news. Get a tram to the bridge, Isaac. - I told him, we'd be safer together - I'm going to get us back into a geostationary orbit.

- Wait, wait! We're not safe yet. - she interrupted - The ship's asteroid defense system is offline. On the way up, the ship's going to pass through a debris field thrown up from the planetcrack... We'll be ripped to pieces unless you restart it.

- Goddammit. - I was frustrated, we had just went out of the frying pan and into the fire_..._ - I'll start working on it from here. Isaac, meet me at the Bridge. You can do more good here than I can. - that was so very true. I cut off the video log

So there we were, Kendra was alive and barricaded inside the computer core, Isaac was on his way to the Bridge to repair the restart the Ishimura's asteroid defense system and I was stuck inside the Captain's Nest, not being able to do anything to help either of them, just reading reports and keeping an eye on the status of both Isaac and the ship...


	5. Obliteration Imminent

Chapter 4 : Obliteration Imminent

So there we were, we had just avoided the crash on the planet to be crashed into the asteroid field. The ADS power routing had been shot and I had no way of repairing it without Isaac, since I couldn't do anything save from fixing the damaged boards once they were powered. What I told the engineer to do, in fact, was to re-route power from junction boxes. But I'm getting ahead, so when Isaac finally reached the Bridge...

- Isaac, come in. Kendra's right, the ADS is completely shot. I'll need your help to fix this. - I told him, via video log – Kendra, if you can hear me, see if you can get into the ship's reports. It sounds like you have better access from there. - After all, she **was** in the computer core...

- When were you going to tell us about the artifact, Hammond? This "Marker?" - she was angry, I could tell.

- I don't know anything about that. It's referenced in the Captain's records. They brought it up from the planet...

- It's on the ship? - she cried in the comm.

- In cargo – I informed her – They think it's of alien origin. But I don't know what the hell it is.

- Really? CEC didn't know anything about it? You're lying. - she was exasperating, why did she have to snap like that? It wasn't my fault...

- Back off. I am not the bad guy here. - I informed her - We're all shaky right now. You're going to have to trust that I don't know anything about it.

Right then, I felt the ship shake, and when I looked at the window (**A/N: OK, it's not a window, but I don't know how those crystal panels are called, or if they're called windows as well) **I saw asteroids coming down on the ship. The comm quickly turned into static, and when it cleared a bit, I shouted quickly, knowing it would last very little.

- We've entered the debris field! Get to the captain's nest. I'll explain everything later. Hammond out.

Moments later, I heard a crashing sound, and the AI's voice.

"Warning: Hull breach detected"

I cursed and tried harder to do anything useful with the ADS until Isaac came to help me. I heard the door open, and having experienced an assault a few hours before, I felt fear, since I had been irresponsible and had left the Pulse Rifle away from me. But as I looked, I saw with relief it was just Isaac.

- Isaac! Damn, you scared me. - I relaxed a bit - This place is making me jumpy. Fucking asteroids coming through the roof... Look, I know Kendra doesn't trust me, but I don't know anything about a Marker or anything else. - I explained him - This was supposed to be a repair mission, plain and simple.

I paused to catch breath and showed him the holo-frame I was working on.

- This mess is the Asteroid Defense System. I can fix these boards, but the main power routing is shot. You're going to have to re-route them manually through at least three junction boxes to activate the primary cannon. - I informed - Oh, but first you need to activate the Atrium elevators from Bridge Security. You can use them to get to the junction boxes.

- OK – was his answer, short and simple, accompanied with a nod of his head. He then turned around, and was already at the exit when I remembered. **(A/N: For the ones who wanted to "hear" Isaac, sorry, no imagination on that field, heh... This OK is just because only a mute would swallow that monologue and not say anything.)**

- By the way, Isaac. Be careful. I saw something out there. I don't know what. I only got a glimpse, but it was big. Really big. - I warned him.

- Thanks for the advice. - man of few words, he was.

He had just taken a few steps out of the nest when I heard a screeching sound from an escape pod, and I realized the slasher I had "killed" had just been knocked out. I quickly jettisoned the pod, before the necromorph managed to rip it open and attack Isaac.

- Shit! Stand back! - I urged him - Thought that one was dead when I sealed the pod. These things don't die easily.

I jettisoned the escape pod and the necromorph somewhere in the asteroid field, and that made me think they would just be destroyed, and they'd be a problem no more. How mistaken I was...

But then I heard a loud screeching noise, and loud stomps on the ceiling – that was, the Atrium, where Isaac was. I took a quick glance at his camera and finally saw the thing that made that noise. It was two and a half meters tall, and very broad, as if a lot of necromorphs were fused together, and it had some kind of plating covering its arms and chest – if it could be considered a chest any more.

Isaac, however didn't notice the plating at first, and started shooting at it with... did he buy a Pulse Rifle?... on the body. The thing charged at him, knocking him to the floor. When he raised himself, I caught a glimpse of the thing's back, realizing it didn't have any armor there.

- Your weapons can't punch through that thing's armor! Shoot it in the back, Isaac! - I informed him

He took my advice, and used Stasis on the necromorph when it charged him again, and quickly ran behind it, shooting a whole clip in the thing's back, causing it to cover itself, a foolish move, because the only thing it did was to expose its back even more, so Isaac quickly reloaded and sprayed its back again. With a roar, the Brute, as I know them now, fell down. Isaac spotted a purple glint underneath it, and with Kinesis he moved the now dead necromorph, picking a power node that somehow was **inside **of the creature.

I saw him enter the Security Room, and go to a bench to upgrade whatever he had, and moments later, the AI was heard throughout the Bridge once again.

"Atrium elevators are now online"

- Kendra, are you there? - I commed her.

- Hammond? What do you want? - she asked angrily

- Just asking what you found on the records about that "Marker"

- Well, this record here just says it's a Red Marker, instead of the Black Marker, you know, the one the Unitologists worship? But you surely knew that already, didn't you? - she accused me

- Look, I don't know what I have done to you, or why you're that angry with me, but I don't know anything about the fucking Marker! And if we don't collaborate, we'll end up dead, so stop accusing me, dammit! - I exploded, not being able to contain myself anymore.

She simply cut the communication, leaving me with questions about the relevance about the chromatic difference of this Marker and the Unitology's one and a growing headache.

When I was finally able to reconfigure one of the ADS boards, I received a reading, showing a 33 percent energy in the Asteroid Defense System, coming from the Ship Systems.

- Ship Systems junction box re-routed. I'm making some progress with the tracking grid... one of the cannons is giving me a hard time. - I informed him.

It was true, I was unable to get ADS Cannon 47's auto-targeting online, while the others were easier to achieve. Maybe Isaac would have done it much faster, but he was needed at the junction boxes, since I knew little of electronics, and this was one of the few things I was able to do. I kept at it for several minutes, managing to get some other cannons online, when I got another reading, this time showing a 66 percent energy in the ADS, coming from Control Systems.

- Control Systems junction box re-routed. I'm getting a reading! - The cannons were actually targeting, even if they hadn't got enough energy to fire – Almost there.

I heard a crash, meaning more asteroids had hit the Bridge, and started to get nervous, fearing that my inability of getting one particular cannon online would doom us. The cursed cannon was impossible to repair! Everything I tried had at least **one** flaw, it'd cause a short circuit, it didn't give it enough power, both or several other problems. I looked for a diagram showing how the targeting system was supposed to be arranged, and when I found it I finally understood the problem it was giving me. There was a glitch in the system caused by a faulty cable, which didn't let data flow through and activate its auto-targeting

While I was cracking my head trying to make the damned cannon work, Isaac was still trying to find and re-route the final junction box. When he re-routed it, a final reading, finally 100 percent, was sent to the console. I hastily activated the ADS Cannons' auto-targeting system.

- All right, we've got enough power. But the ADS cannon's auto-targeting is down. I think it's a faulty data cable. - I informed him - I need you to aim the cannon manually until I can replace it. Take the elevator to the top of the ship, and head for the cannon pit.

That said, I started searching the whole Nest, looking for data cables to rip off unneeded machines. As I ripped one from the heating system, I realized where I had sent Isaac, under what conditions. I quickly commed him again, praying not to be late.

- Isaac, you're going to have to cross the ship exterior to reach the ADS Cannon. - I said calmly, once I saw he was alright. - Problem is, we're still getting bombarded from asteroids. Look for cover or you'll get torn to pieces. - I was very blunt, but we didn't have time to be subtle.

Done that, I went back to the data cable. After unplugging the faulty one, I tried to connect the one I got. The problem was, the faulty cable had broken while unplugging it, and one end was still in the depths of the board. I went underneath it, and tried to yank it off, to no avail. A glimpse at the camera showed me Isaac had reached the pit in one piece, and I commed him yet again to tell him what to do.

- That's it. Isaac, you're in the pit. The cannon's a massdriver, so it should punch through anything flying at us. Keep an eye on the hull's integrity. - I instructed him - Too many of those things get by and we're dead. I think I've almost got the system repaired. Just buy me a little more time!

Back at the cable, I finally managed to pull out the cable and started plugging the good one. I felt more intense shakes on the side of the ship, and hurried.

- Just one more minute and it should be fully operational! - I cried in the comm.

There! I had finally plugged it, I just had to configure the system – an easy task – and it'd be done, the auto-targeting would be online.

- I've almost got this thing fixed! Just a little bit longer!

I saw the loading bar quickly fill up, and then the AI spoke

"Automated tracking system enabled"

I sighed of pure relief.

- Nice shooting, Isaac! Auto targeting is now online and clearing a path to safe orbit! As soon as we're clear, I'll engage the autopilot again. Head to the tram station and I'll meet you there when I'm done.

A minute or so later, we were clear of the debris field. I engaged the autopilot and exited the Captain's Nest. When I reached the tram station, however, I lost my hopes again, because Kendra was, again, the messenger of bad news. Very bad news.

- Wait! Isaac, Hammond... you're not gonna believe this. Oxygen levels are falling. Something's poisoning Hydroponics air production, and whatever it is, it's filling the deck up with that organic stuff. - she cried in the comm, almost hysteric. - We're not going to have any air to breathe soon. But if I understand these lab reports correctly, I think I can make a poison to destroy it. Head to Medical. It should have everything you need. - I really hoped she knew what she was doing, since I hadn't done any chemistry since Elementary.

- Will this never end? Isaac, get to Medical and mix together whatever Kendra's come up with. - I sighed, suddenly tired - I'm heading to Hydroponics. If I can slow it down, that might keep us breathing long enough to fight it.

With that, I boarded the tram and headed to Hydroponics, fearing what I'd find there, and beginning to think of aborting the mission. But I had to do that, or none of us would get out of the ship alive.

**(A/N: Aand we **_**finally**_** get Hammond separated from Isaac! Mind you, this'll most surely mean the next upload isn't going to be there for a while. Again, review, people! I don't like to beg for them, but if I don't get them, I don't know how to improve the story. As long as it's constructive, you can say whatever you want. And yes, fighting with a cable to survive getting crushed by asteroids while an engineer is firing a turret is very anticlimactic, and ridiculous, but I couldn't come up with any other problem, heh...****)**


	6. Lethal Devotion

Chapter 5 : Lethal Devotion

There I was, on the Tram to Hydroponics, wondering what horrors I might encounter, and if I'd be able to do what I promised both Isaac and Kendra I'd do. It wasn't a happy thought at all, so I tried to think about something else, which didn't do any good, either, as I thought we should have stayed on the Flying Deck and repaired as little as we could of the Kellion, and then we should have got the hell out of this ship. As that thought didn't do anything to boost my already low morale, dropping it more instead, I decided to focus on the task at hand, which now was to stop – or slow down – whatever was poisoning the air in the whole ship...

- I've reached Hydroponics – I said on the comm.

I didn't get any response, only static, so I decided to pick up the Rifle from the seat where I put it and exit the tram, trying to figure out what was exactly poisoning the air. I quickly noticed the putrid stench, and I had to resist the urge to retch.

_ - What the hell is that thing?_ - I wondered.

It was far worse than anything I've ever smelt before. As if the rotten corpses of the crew had an extra layer of putridity, and **that** extra layer had its own extra layer... What I didn't do was to even think the smell came from "breathing" necromorphs...

I shook my head, and opened the door to the elevator, riding it up. When the doors opened, a loud hiss startled me, and I quickly aimed the Pulse Rifle to whatever was in front of me. It turned out it was just a tomato plantation's watering cycle initiating. I was getting paranoid, but who wouldn't?

I reached the Atmosphere Control without any problems, but with plenty of corpses around me. I saw the door to Food Storage was locked, and tried to unlock it, to no avail. Kendra had to help me there.

- Kendra! I need you to open Food Storage's door. - No response - Kendra? Are you there? Dammit! Now I cannot even communicate with them! - It was frustrating, and I was apparently on my own.

That room had definitely something to do with the problem at hand, I knew it - and in the end I was right. But then I noticed the holopad situated behind me**(1)**, which showed the purity of the air on deck. It was flashing red, meaning critical levels of impurity.

_ - How convenient_ – I thought when I saw the door to Food Storage would **only** unlock when the air was pure again.

Since there was a door on each side of the room, I thought it would be good if I explored the Deck, while I tried to re-purify the air on the ship. I entered the one on the right, and another hissing noise startled me again. There apparently were leaks on the pipes, and to top it off, some cable was also failing, and its sparks ignited the leaking fertilizer.**(2) **Also, some more noises could be heard from the vents... I quickly searched for any vent, fearing the worse, when two – one directly above me, another one at the end of the corridor – popped open, finally making me shoot at them in panic. There were two necromorphs, a slasher (i.e. the ones with the bladed hands)... was it **female**?... and one of those twisted, gory parodies of a merman**(3)**. I remembered the mermen, as I had dubbed them, were very fast, and I tried to hamper its movement by severing its hands, or at least one of them. But I couldn't forget about the slasher-woman, and thus simply ran away, trying to be as far from them as I could. Then, I started shooting, not releasing the trigger until I had managed to severe one of the no-longer woman's legs, making her – it – fall. I then concentrated on the merman, too late, if you ask me, since it was already airborne, and fell right on top of me, dragging me to the ground. I grunted in pain and effort, and tried to pull it off me with the Rifle. Somehow I managed to position it upwards and pulled the trigger, all the while trying not to be bitten by the necromorph. It worked, and I could stand up again after stunning it. A few more shots to the momentarily downed merman finally ripped its tail off, and killed it. I felt something explode at my back, making me lose my balance, and when I regained it, I realized I had forgotten the slasher-woman from before.

- What else can these things do? - I wondered aloud, quickly looking at the downed slasher and seeing it spit some kind of boulder.

I dodged it, and it exploded on the wall. I fired my Rifle, only to realize I was out of ammo. I quickly ran while reloading, and stomped on the slasher's head, managing to crack its mandible, thus impeding it spit anymore explosives. Finally, I managed to insert the Pulse Rounds – my last ones – into the rifle, and fired again at the slasher, severing both its arms, killing it.

Realizing I wouldn't go much further without any ammo, I went back to the shop, feeling the toll from the fight: they had not only hurt me, the effort had also made me breathe a lot more putrid air, and I was starting to suffocate due the progressive lack of breathable oxygen.

- Isaac? Kendra? Is anyone there? - I tried again on the comm, to no avail.

I couldn't buy much. I had very few credits, and could only afford a small medpack and fifty Pulse Rounds, so I had to ration them. I felt a backache, generated because of both my fall and the explosion, and wondered how bad my injuries were, since I didn't have a way to look at my vitals. When I managed to reach the door at the other side of the leaking pipes' corridor, after an elevator ride, I saw the room behind it was a greenhouse. Lots of vents, though, and that made me nervous. **Very **nervous. I encouraged myself, and took a few steps forward, when I saw something move across the aisle two of the plantations made. I think I was sweating. A shrieking behind me made me jump, and another necromorph popped out of a vent to my left**(4)**. This was one of those gruesome babies with tentacles Isaac had encountered in the Science/Medical Deck before. Knowing how they were supposed to be killed, I saw the baby – now known as lurkers, since that's what they do... creep behind you and ambush you – raise its tentacles, ready to fire those tooth-like projectiles at me, but in my growing paranoia, however, I had a quicker reaction time, and pulled the trigger with all my might, aiming at them, successfully severing them and, with no damage inflicted to me, killing it. The earsplitting cry of pain the necromorph made made me cover my ears.

Another thing passed right in front of me, quickly disappearing. I took a few steps, reloading my rifle, when I hit something with my foot. Looking down, I realized it was a gold Semiconductor, and quickly picked it up, since it meant the possibility of buying more ammo and medpacks. Another unidentified noise made me look all around, and I tried to calm myself down. I opened a door labeled "Greenhouse A", catching a glimpse of a kneeling necromorph, very different to what I had seen until then, and quickly felt unable to breathe at all. Gagging, I quickly ran in the opposite direction of the room, and when it closed, I could breathe again. It was the only moment I felt grateful for the putrid air of the Deck.

There was an audiolog near me, and I quickly picked it up, playing it.

"Hydroponics, this is Professor Heinrich Jagerwald reporting. Everybody's dead or in the process of dying! Something's found their way into Food Storage and is filling the whole deck with some kind of organic growth... a colleague theorizes it's an habitat changer... I don't know and truth be told, I don't care right now! The growth is not the problem, but the things it produces are... Oh my god, what's that? That thing has Hawley's coat! Shit! It **is** Hawley! It's the crew! The monsters are the crew! Oh my...! Why is it so hard to breathe suddenly? And this stench? Damn, that thing must be doing something with the oxygen production! You must... **shit**! No! No! Leave m...aaaaagh!"

After that scream, the audio cut, and I couldn't help but think the poor man was no longer a human. At least, his presumable death had given me the information I was seeking, the poisoner **was **in Food Storage. Now I had to do something to keep it from further poisoning the air. I tried using the elevator to the second level of the Greenhouse, and saw a locked door, and an unlocked one. When I opened it, I found myself in a cold room.

By then I was feeling tired, it was very hard to breathe, my eyes stung a little from the fertilizer mixed with the air, and I was nervous, because the room was full of vents. I saw something from the corner of my eye, and turned around, not finding anything there. Nervous, I commed the team again.

- Is anyone there? Repeat! Come in Isaac... Kendra, is anyone there? - I practically begged...

- Hammond! Where the hell have you been? - Kendra answered me, at last.

- I've reached Hydroponics. - I could finally tell them - It's bad down here, really bad!... can barely breathe! That organic matter is growing everywhere! My eyes are stinging... must be seeing things... I've been trying to contact you for a while, how is the poison going? - No answer. I had lost them again. - Dammit!

- Hammond, make us whole again

- Who's there? - I asked, frenetically – Show yourself!

The owner of the voice didn't show himself. Instead, the vents of the room – **all** of them – suddenly opened, and lots of necromorphs came out of them. These ones were different to the others: they were thinner, with most of their mass merged into one arm, which was glowing a dark shade of orange. I tried to shoot at them, and by accident I hit one of their bulky arms. The glowing appendage suddenly exploded, killing the necromorph and making me realize the danger they represented, since one hit may as well kill me, in my already weakened state. Quickly, and fearing the worse, I used my medkit, in an attempt of boosting my physical condition enough so the explosion didn't rip through my RIG and flesh and thus kill me. Thank God I did that the moment I did, because another one had popped out of the vent right behind me, and I suddenly felt a hit on my back, and heard an explosion,which knocked me over, and I felt my vision blacken by the second. I managed to sit, and from that position I pulled the trigger, aiming at their overgrown appendages as best as I could in my dizzy state.

When I recovered a bit, the air was almost unbreathable, and I tried to keep moving. In the next room, there was a Zero-G area (I could tell because of the floating containers), and another audiolog, which I played:

"This is Arthur Asimov**(****5)**, something's poisoning the air! It's not only the thing in Food Storage, there are some of these things in here which are making the air completely unbreathable! Beth went to Greenhouse A an hour ago and hasn't returned... something's happened to her! These things... it's like their lungs have come out, and when they exhale, the air is rotten! God, I have to get out of here..."

I couldn't continue, since I didn't have gravity boots, so I started coming back to Atmosphere Control, to sell the Gold Semiconductor and buy ammo and another medpack, since I felt really bad.

_ - What was that voice from before?_ - I wondered, since it sounded strangely familiar.

I couldn't dwell on it a lot, since when I opened the door to Atmosphere Control a necromorph was right in front of me. I barely managed to dodge its attack, and pushed it with my foot. I pulled the trigger and aimed for its legs. When they came off, I kicked it again, further separating it from me, and shot its arms, finishing it off. The 3,000 Credits the Semiconductor was sold for made me able to buy yet another medpack, and with the rest of the money I resupplied my Pulse Rifle ammo. I used the medpack right away, and then caught a glimpse of Kendra's conversation with Isaac, and took my opportunity and spoke while the comm lasted.

- … to make the poison. Now get back to the Chemistry Lab! - Kendra was instructing.

- Whatever you're going to do, do it fast... Can hardly breathe in here... - I difficultly said, hearing just static afterwards.

I went to the tomato plantation of the tram elevator to try and use the glass as a makeshift mirror and finally assess the damage, and when I was doing that, another of those exploding necromorphs caught me by surprise, and before I could react, hit me, making me hit the glass with force, hitting my head and finally losing my consciousness.

**(A/N: And here we have Hammond's 1st solo chapter! Please, _please_ review, since I don't know if it's very good, and would highly appreciate any constructive criticism. Also, I've put numbers on the things I believe deserve an A/N instead of putting them right there, as EcoSeeker247 had suggested me)**

**1 Well, it's behind him since he's trying to unlock the actual door, as Isaac opens them. Thus, the "Air Purity" panel is right behind him.**

**2 I think it's fertilizer, at least... (Hydroponics!) Also, OK, there's no fire at all...**

**3 Well, he can't dub every necromorph as it's scripted, since they never say their names in-game, can he?**

**4 Hey, the shrieking doesn't mean the vent is being destroyed. The necromorph could very well hit the vent before popping out of another one.**

**5 I don't know if you catch that one. Isaac's name is a mix from Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke, so why not do the exact opposite?**


	7. Environmental Hazard

Chapter 6 : Environmental Hazard

The near future didn't look bright at all. There I was, unconscious, almost drowning in the putrid, unbreathable air of the Hydroponics Deck, in a ship full of nightmarish aliens several light years from home. And, to top it off, I couldn't even contact with my other two companions, one of which thought I was some sort of traitor that had kept information on them. Truth be told, I had requested info on their backgrounds, but that's another story...

I woke up with the noise of the tomato plantation's watering cycle, and coughing, aimed my Pulse Rifle ahead of me the best I could, just to find Isaac, clad in yet another RIG, this one even bulkier, looking at me.

- Isaac... Good to see you in one piece... - I managed to say, gasping for air. Seeing he was raising his hands to his helmet, I warned him. - Don't take... your helmet off... the air's rotten... I got a look... at it... it's huge...**(1)** you won't believe it... Shut itself in Food Storage... - I coughed a bit more, feeling dizzy from air loss. - The crew that was on this deck... I think they're what's poisoning the air. They've been transformed... I saw one of them, bloated, swollen.**(2)** They're poison factories... we need to take them out while we can still breathe... - I tried to stand up, failing miserably, and Isaac approached me, trying to help me. Right then my comm piped up, showing a videolog.

- Hammond! I thought you were dead! - Kendra had managed to contact me, at last. - You need to get to cleaner air! You're not going to be able to help Isaac in your condition. Isaac, I'm scanning the area now. He's right, there's something really big in Food Storage, but I can't get a good scan. Monitor readings are off the scale. Be careful!

With that, Isaac nodded, and looking at me one last time, went through the door to Atmosphere Control, leaving me in my sitting position. True or not, it looked like neither of them trusted me the littlest bit.

I felt very dizzy, but somehow I managed to stand up and go to the elevator, trying to go to another deck, to find cleaner air. In the tram station, I saw my reflection on one of the windows, and turned around to see my vitals. The RIG was flashing red, which worried me. I didn't have any medpacks, nor had I enough credits to buy one, so logic told me I should go to the Science/Medical Deck, and try to pick up any medical supplies I came across.**(3)**

When I arrived at the deck, I found it to be deserted, with severed limbs and blood everywhere. I could breathe better, but I still could smell the stench of Hydroponics' air. Odd enough, there were many candles lit on the floor, without any apparent sense. I saw a closed container, and lacking the necessary expertise to hack it open, I opted for the more direct approach. I slammed the stock of the Pulse Rifle on the door several times, until it popped open, thankfully revealing a medium medpack instead of the many variety of items that Isaac had found in other containers like the one I had just smashed open.

Instantly using it, I noticed the change. I could breathe better, and I didn't feel as hurt as before. A snarl snapped me of my thoughts, and when I saw I had a vent right above me, I tried as hard as I could to not be below it when the necromorph inevitably destroyed it and attacked me. Apparently, I hadn't been as healthy as I thought I was after the medpack, since when the vent was shred to pieces by the claws of one of the slashers that dwelled the huge planet-cracker we were trapped in, I lost my footing, and slammed on the floor. Right after that, the slasher that "opened" the vent fell through it, and I saw it wasn't one of those I had already confronted, being instead one of those late Captain Matthius had been transformed into. Its red eyes looked at me, and it quietly approached me, preparing to charge me on the floor. Panicking, I pulled the trigger with all my might, trying to aim at its arms to severe them. Alas, fate was seemingly against me, for the Pulse Rifle was empty. The (enhanced) slasher then charged me, and I struggled to throw it off me. I started pushing at its head with the rifle, desperately trying to avoid the obvious bite it was going to take from me if the opportunity arose. I managed to get my knee underneath its... belly? No, not belly, not anymore... Underneath its intestines, and push upwards, making it lose its balance and giving me the opportunity to get up. Without having the time to reload the Rifle, the slasher charged me again, to which I answered by slamming my weapon in its face, gruesomely blowing it away. I quickly ducked, since I remembered their instant reflex when their head was cut off: slash randomly. I took that time and reloaded the rifle, not failing to notice I didn't have any more rounds to spare, and after a quick thought, I tried to kill the blind slasher without using too much ammo. Remembering what Isaac had done sometime earlier, I kicked the slasher's legs, making it fall to the ground, then **jumped** on its arms, falling as hard as I could, to break them. Unlike I expected, it worked, and the satisfactory sound of breaking bones accompanied with another snarl told me there was one less slasher to worry about.

- Kendra, I'm in the Medical Deck, and... – I said on the comm, only receiving static as an answer – Damn, I'm on my own again.

As I gave up on contacting either Kendra or Isaac, I thought I couldn't go back to Hydroponics until the Leviathan was killed, since I didn't have a helmet with filters to purify the oxygen I breathed. That reminded me, whose voice was the one I heard before, and why didn't the owner show himself, staying in the shadows instead?

I looked ahead and saw the door to the Security Station where the store was, and went there, to see if somehow there was a discount on Pulse Rounds, or if, even less probable, I had enough credits to buy, at least, half a magazine. My counter was closer to zero than I deemed safe. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't buy anything, and the Safe was empty, so I was entirely on my own, with a nearly empty Pulse Rifle, also my only weapon, in an alien-infested ship, which, to top it off, was being poisoned courtesy of its own dead crew and another huge alien. The day couldn't get any better. A loud clank could be heard from a vent not far away, and I heard more snarls, and some high-pitched screams**(4),** deducing there weren't only slashers this time. Of course thinking that would trigger them...

- If I get out of here alive and catch up to them, I call the mission off, I swear it. Enough of this shit. - I said to myself.

I opened the door to the Tram Station, and quickly ran away from it. **There **was where the vent had been destroyed, and three slashers were right in front of me. Luckily, this time the exploding necromorph was near them, so I quickly shot its orange-glowing arm, and two of the slashers exploded with the kamikaze (the exploding necromorph)**(5)**. The remaining one charged me, and I dodged it somehow, shooting at its legs until I severed them. Then, I stomped on one of its arms, and the bone broke, with another snarl from the necromorph, and it stopped moving. I entered the Tram, and pushed the button to go to another Deck, but it didn't move. Cursing, I got out and checked the map of the ship, to see if there was another Tram Station in the Deck. When I saw I had to go through most of the Deck, I nearly punched the wall.

I reentered the Security Station, and went through the Imaging/Diagnostics' door, since the Tram Station was through there. It was very quiet, without any necromorph, only bloodstains and the occasional limb on the floor. A few corpses, too. The fact that I had grown accustomed to those sights was something to worry about. The lights flicked on as I passed near them, as if they had a motion sensor. When I reached the end of the corridor, I saw a bloodstain across the floor and going up the wall, as if someone had banged their head so hard on the wall to split it and slide to the floor. **(6)** I went through the door to my left, and I saw a Work Bench. I suddenly remembered the Power Nodes I had, and approached it, wondering what could I do with them. Apparently, it was simpler than I had thought it'd be. Using what little engineering abilities I had (because I had some, otherwise I couldn't have repaired that ADS Cannon's auto-targeting), I managed to insert the Power Nodes in a few slots the Pulse Rifle had, thus improving both its ammo capacity and its damage-per-bullet.

I continued through the small passage to the right, noticing the out-of-control stasis pod going back and forth on its rail, and the dead necromorph sticked to the wall near an elevator. I went through the door opposite of it, and found myself in another corridor, this one with a room to my left, the Chemical Research Lab and a barricade right in the middle. I opened the door and saw there was another one across the room which went back to the corridor, at the other side of the barricade. As I crossed the room, I noticed two stasis tanks at my left, one of them broken and the other with a corpse in it, floating. The few containers in the room, as well as a case in the wall, were open, signaling Isaac had been there recently. Maybe it even was where he had concocted the poison he was carrying to Food Storage to kill the Leviathan.

Anyway, I exited the lab, and further down the corridor, there was yet another door, this one leading to the Cryogenics Lab. The temperature difference was highly noticeable when I entered the room, it was freezing! I looked at my sides, and saw lots of pods with necromorphs inside. There were more vents in the room, and a few of them were already broken, so I crossed the room as fast as I could, and entered the control room, trying to avoid whatever necromorphs may enter the room through the vents, failing to notice the one right behind me. A loud clank behind me, however, made me realize my strategy hadn't worked as efficiently as I thought it would. One of the mermen leaped at me, knocking me to the ground, and started biting off the arm I had raised to cover my face. I punched it in the face, having discarded the Pulse Rifle in the fall, and kneed it where its stomach would have been if it were still human, shaking it off me. I quickly got up, and before it could recover, I grabbed its tail, pressed my boot on its head and started to pull the tail. I heard a crunching noise while feeling my foot stomp on something soft**(7)**, and quickly let go of the merman's tail, proceeding to stomp on its tail until it came off. Although it stopped moving, I kicked it hard in the side and blew its arms off for good measure.

Finally, I got to the Tram, and threw myself inside it, punching the button, not even looking where I was heading. The important thing was that I had started to breathe better a few minutes ago, which surely meant the poison had successfully killed the Leviathan, detoxifying the Hydroponics' oxygen supply.

**(A/N: 2nd solo chapter, in which the "I patched myself up" from chapter 8 is somewhat explained... Hope you liked it, and I await your reviews, telling me how much/little you liked it, what, if any, plot holes you identified or just simple grammar errors. Also, try to make it a constructive review, not just "Go **** yourself, this sucks", please.**

**1 He didn't actually see it in person, my bad. I forgot he saw the leviathan, so in this case, Hammond HEARD about it, via audiolog, instead of what he's canonically supposed to do.**

**2 That kneeling necromorph last chapter, the "undescribed" one.**

**3 OK, I'm not sure if those last two sentences have any sense at all, since I'm not sure about their structure. Please tell me if they're correct or not, and if the latter, tell me what the correct one would be.**

**4 Slashers and exploders, respectively. And yes, it was absolutely casual, not like I am trying to advertise that film or anything, heh...**

**5 As I commented earlier, the chance that he has the names of the necromorphs down to a T is utterly improbable.**

**6 Chapter 2: Intensive Care, anyone?**

**7 Meat Cello. The guy from the elevator in Chapter 2 of DS2 invented it, I just put it to use 3 years earlier in the USG Ishimura.)**

**I apologize I took this long to post this chapter, I don't really have any credible excuses, simply a mixture of "I don't know what to do" and "I don't want to do anything"...**


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